Half way through this book, I was in love with it. So I got online, read some reviews, and it kind of ruined it for me. Because the reviews really opened my eyes to the paper thin characters, silly plot, etc. They were right on.So, when I gave this to my sister this morning, I said, "It's stupid. It's so stupid. That being said, I'm going out at lunch to pick up both sequels." ( )

Reviewed by
School Library Journal Oct 2005
Booklist Nov 2005
New York Times Book Review Feb 2006
Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolsecent Psychiatry July 2009
http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.login.ez...

I am highly impressed by this book and glad to have it as part of my book collection. This book is a romance novel between a human, Bella, and a vampire, Edward. She moved to Forks, Washington, a place she considers dreadful but eventually considers this town home for many reasons...she is accepted among her peers, has many admirerers, but most importantly, she has found true love with a vampire who can very easily kill her. This book is a must read for all ages, unlike most vampire books, this is free of sex, but there is some hint about it. These vampires have special powers that are general traits and some powers that are unique to the vamp. So, there are familiar vampire themes and some that are unique. Overall, a great book. ( )

Let me start off by saying that I'm an Interview with a Vampire fan, and I think there has been no other book written to match it. That said, I loved Twilight and read it before all the hub-bub. Meyer turned out an original, creative spin on vampire lore by making the Cullens vegetarians (in a sense). She writes vividly, enabling readers to see her characters and their setting. I could see Edward quite clearly (and he was nothing like the kid in the movie). By having Edward in love and so close to a woman who literally makes his mouth water, Meyer creates unbearable tension because you know she's one smooch away from becoming dinner. The way their love develops, Edward's disclosures about his nature physically and mentally, make the book memorable. The movie is crap and for kids. The book is a feast for all ages.

A final comment about Meyer's series. Unfortunately, each book gets incrementally poorer in quality. I read the second book (New Moon, I think)and missed Edward, wasn't too keen on the wolf den and found it a little absurd that 1 girl could attract to many scary creatures. I thought Edward's sacrifice in Italy was melodramatic. I skipped the next book altogether. I read the last, knowing Bella would become a vampire and was terribly disappointed. It was absurd, period, with one of the worst endings I've ever read. I skipped and scanned many pages.

But this is commercial publishing. It requires writers to exploit their own success instead of take their time to reflect and revise. Thomas Harris (of Hannibal Lechter series) always took his time, caring about the kind of book that was out there with his name on it. That Meyer wrote these way too quickly (and kids don't care)is sad considering the promise of Twilight. ( )

interesting book~-Amanda (09)

I love this book.
But I agree it is strange.
It definitely is not at all a real relationship and in reality no aspect of this book could ever happen. not even the love at fist sight/obsession Bella has for Edward.
In saying this it would be kind of nice if it could.
but it won't.
I have definitley read better books than this. ( )

i love this book because its catchy every time i read it i have to read more one night i was up till 12.00 at night reading from 9.00 im a boy and kids at myschool say boys dont read romance novels and i say its ok because twilight has cool stuff like vampires YHAAAA!!!!! GO TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. ( )

The book is clasic good vs. evil, but with a love twist. ( )

:3 Fantastico, jamas me habia engasado asi con un libro, facinante historia... estoi ansiado x comenzar a leer new moon :D
P.S. Decidi que no iba ver la pelicula hasta no haber leido el libro antes. Ya vi la pelicula y debo admitir que no me gusto mucho, obvio la vi solo por ver al Papi [Robert Pattinson], sigo prefiriendo mil veces el libro. Espero y la de luna nueva sea mejor. Por cierto que ya vi los trailers y que bello sale Taylor.. no digamos Rob :P ( )

I have to admit that I could not get into this book the first time around. It actually took some convincing from my 16 year old niece to get past the first two chapters. Once I did, I fell in love right along with Bella and Edward. It is a wonderful remake of the time honored classic, Romeo and Juliet. This story is full of the wonder of a deep, obsessive, all consuming first love - just like I remember first love to be (without the vampire stuff, of course). ( )

twilight is a very emotional book about love about a 17 yr old girl called bella and a 100 yr old vampire called edward. this books books shows the dangers that happens when love is as bad as theres ( )

This was a wonderful book. I was hooked from the moment I started it and could not put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys romantic fiction. It will take you back to your high school years. :) ( )

I can't say I like this book very much. Bella, the main character of the story, has a flat personality and she doesn't have much of a life outside of her vampire boyfriend Edward. Not a very good role model for teens. The story is not very interesting unless you like to read about teenagers who think they're so mature, more so than the actual grownups, and then go about angsting over every little hitch in their love life. Even the vampires, having lived well beyond their teenage years, act like immature brats. ( )

Read Dracula for a book discussion group so I thought I should read a couple modern vampire novels, too. I couldn't hate this book more. Edward uses both psychological and physical abuse to manipulate doormat girl (Bella). I found an online review that pretty much covers this: http://bamber.blogspot.com/2009/02/bo...

Bella has to stay perfectly still when Edward kisses her. If she exhibits her own sexuality, Edward will get "too excited" and become dangerous to her. How many date rape victims have blamed themselves for exactly the same? Why, in Meyer's world, are men godlike creatures while women are tools?

The copy I read was from the library. If it had been my own, it would have become the first book I ever threw on the grill. ( )

I read this novel in a misguided, last-ditch attempt to relate to my roommate's tastes my freshman year of college.

Needless to say, we're still not friends.

I firmly believe that one should respect books, and I always try to take care of those in my collection. That said, I could not help literally throwing this book across the room at one point.

Read it if you want to be an informed critic, but don't read this looking for a modern classic, or anything particularly interesting, enjoyable, or memorable. ( )

Okay, this was a book that I felt I had to read before I could make a judgement on it: I can be a hardline feminist at times, but, well, I also enjoy some pretty trashy trash. Maybe this one could sneak under the feminist radar as a guilty pleasure.

In one word: no.

It is just so incredibly wet.

For example: there was one bit where Edward was very "I love you, against my better judgement" which was soooo Mr Darcy, and Bella really didn't reach any Miss Lizzie Bennett heights in response, but just went all confused. (I repeat: pathetic.) Now, it may be cruel comparing this book to Pride and Prejudice, arguably one of the world's greatest novels, but Ms Meyer brought it on herself. She's the one who writes Bella as a fan of literature, the Brontes and Austen in particular. So she's the one who cast my mind towards some proper heroines and highlighted the ghastliness of her own creation.

If you're going to have a love/hate relationship with your two main romantic leads, it would be good if there was some actual hate happening: Bella meets Edward and is instantly smitten. She's a pathetic pushover.

And what's with the yellow/tawny/amber/golden eyes? He sounds jaundiced. I couldn't wait until we got mustard coloured eyes. (Unfortunately, we didn't.)

Then later, Edward is being all "I'm ever so dangerous, you shouldn't be near me, but I love you and can't bear to be apart". (This is after stalking her, by the way.)

It's bloody psychological abuse, that's what it is. He's scaring her, and then backflips straight into "I'm the only one who can protect you".

And she bloody well thinks it's *romantic* (ditto the stalking).

I cannot believe that adult women have read and enjoyed this. Further, I cannot believe that we are allowing teenagers to read such twisted attitudes in the guise of romance. I'm banning it from my house (assuming it's still popular when Miss Boo is of teenage years). Or at least giving her the run down on how they are not in a healthy relationship, and how that cannot possibly be romantic.

Bella is unhealthily obsessed with an undead man who treats her appallingly, is many, many years older than her (what's with the hanging out in a school? Who would want to repeat High School ad infinitum?), and who stalks her. An undead paedophile. How gross can you get?

It's a train wreck of a book, but I couldn't quite turn away.

At the end, there was about 50 pages of plot in there somewhere, amongst the angst and wetness. But even then, thinking about it, it was the most useless excuse for a plot ever. The outcome was never in doubt: Edward was going to rush in and save her and kill the bad guy.

Sorry if that's a spoiler for anyone. ( )

Good book but way too over publicized. All in all, I really loved it (past-tense, no longer much of a fan...) ( )

I found myself fondly recalling that staple of lit class: First Person POV = an unreliable narrator. Which I'm pretty sure means that I was reading against the text. However, I couldn't take this book as straight-up storytelling, in Bella's voice.

The plot itself is fairly simple, as are the layers of characterization. The resulting negative space within the narrative is what gave my reader-brain the space to twist my own interpretation sideways. Bella is shown to be emotionally manipulative, self-centered, yet generally in-offensive. She has high situational-awareness, when it suits her, and that pervasive sense of indestructibility so often lamented in those under the age of 20. The drug-addiction metaphors used to describe Edward's reaction to her could as easily be applied to her reactions to Edward. How could we trust that such a girl is seeing her own situation, and the world around her, with anything like clarity.

All the weight of the book is all on the Bella/Edward relationship, and that relationship has no emphasized internal conflict (it probably would if the book were in Edward's POV, but that's not what we got). Bella's own certainty erased all possibility of narrative tension on that front. And her role as damsel-in-distress robs the life-threatening story elements of their power, for the same reason. Edward will save her. She knows it, and since we're in her head, we know it too. ( )

I am often surprised by the depth of feeling people express for this book, from unconditional adoration to absolute loathing. So when I had an opportunity to get a free copy, I decided to find out what all the fuss was about.

Bella is the new girl in town; Edward is the mysterious stranger. The romance at the core of this story is certainly nothing new, and neither is the vampire angle. The writing isn't all that great: the descriptions are bland, the dialogue unnatural, and the narration amateurish. Adverbs abound. Bella shares her every thought and repeats herself constantly. The text is a shining example of why consistently avoiding "said" is terribly distracting. Most of what we learn about the characters is from the narrator's descriptions rather than their actions, and I still have absolutely no idea what Edward sees in Bella except as an entree. The plot alternates between forced and outright silly. Worst of all, Bella is a total Mary Sue. I was repeatedly reminded of the sorts of romantic fantasies I wrote about as a teenager. There isn't a whole lot to recommend this book, from a technical standpoint.

But. (You saw that coming, didn't you?) I can, on the other hand, understand the draw. I remember being that teenager who wrote this sort of unlikely drivel. I remember the obsession over boys and the fervent hope that he would ask me out. I even remember fantasizing about having too many suitors. So yes, while this book is ridiculous and will probably disappear from collective memory within the decade, I can understand its appeal to awkward teenage girls who dream about men who are both dangerous and devoted, strong and tender, attractive and yet still an outcast. And so I did enjoy it on that level.

I've heard a lot of complaints about sparkling vampires, how they're not "real" vampires. And yes, the vampires in this book are not vulnerable to sunlight (and in fact only avoid it because of the attention their sparkling draws), and the creation of a vampire is not from drinking the blood of a vampire. I would like to mention that Dracula himself was only sometimes hurt by sunlight, and people in that book became vampires both by drinking vampire blood and by simply being bitten (but not killed) by a vampire. I doubt that Dracula did much twinkling, but considering how often Edward's skin is described in terms of minerals like marble and granite, sparkling isn't so far fetched. I wouldn't recommend this book to, say, Anne Rice fans, but I can't complain much about the authenticity of something that doesn't exist in the first place.

This may surprise you, but I'm planning on reading the rest of this series. I know what kind of silliness to expect, and I look forward to dissecting Meyer's werewolf treatment. All in all, I enjoyed Twilight. It's not my favorite book ever and I doubt I'll read it again, but it was a fun bit of brain candy. I was never bored; I even chuckled aloud in some places. Many of the characters are quite likable regardless of their lack of depth, and part of me likes being transported back, half a lifetime ago, to an alternate reality where awkward teenage me gets to be the bell of the ball. ( )

Excessive amounts of teen angst and plot-filler introspection - dislike books that "tell" me what to think as I read. Also couldn't get past the flaw in the basic premise: why would anyone want to cuddle someone physically cold and hard and how on earth does he get an erection when he has no blood? Plot line of all four books barely adequate for one book. "Host" by this author is better. ( )

In the beginning, I never gave this book a chance. The topic was something I was far from interested in, so when my daughter gave it to me to read, I put it aside at first. When I did pick it up, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book! I'm not sure if the forbidden love or the perfect "man" was what appealed to me most, but I do know that Edward certainly won my heart. Although this book is written for teens, I found that because of Edward's age (both actual and physical) will pretty much be "that man" for grandmas as well as granddaughters! This really was a fun read. ( )

Cooper, I. (2005). Twilight. Booklist, 102(6), 58. Retrieved October 27, 2009, from Article Citation database.

Martin, H. (2005). Twilight. School Library Journal, 51(10), 166. Retrieved October 27, 2009, from Article Citation database.

I watched the movie before reading the book. Big mistake. The movie followed the book very closely. While that's awesome for the movie, it kind of left the reading a little unfulfilling. I skimmed more than read. I hate that. The story was great and very entertaining. I just screwed myself. It was very good but could have been a lot more detailed. ( )

A nice, easy read for a rainy afternoon, but I'm excessively tired of the hype around this series. ( )

Twilight is a fast and easy read which meets the need of a young adult audience very well. Because the target market is young adult, I approach this review with that audience in mind.

With typical teenage angst, Bella Swan relocates to a small town suffering perpetually overcast skies. Adjusting to living with her father after spending her formative years with her scatterbrained mother compounds the already difficult task of learning the layout of a new school, making new friends, and avoiding falling flat on her face due to her curse of clumsiness. All of this, young girls can relate to. And then she sees HIM...again, this, young girls can relate to. HE is the dark, mysterious, Edward Cullen and for Bella it is love at first sight. The remainder of the story explores the challenges of a mortal dating a vampire.

I agree with those who feel the story is relatively shallow, the characters rather obsessive and Bella submissive. But, I also appreciate the fact there is no sex, there is no profanity, and young people who don't normally read are picking up this book, as well as the sequels. The writing does not intimidate them, the characters and their challenges allow the reader to escape what might be for them the harsher realities of the abuse, divorce, or alcoholism they face in their own environment.

Twilight is a light, escapist read. ( )